


time we can borrow

by adeleblaircassiedanser



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: (attempted), First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Halloween, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Netflix and Chill, Sharing Clothes, Sharing a Bed, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 02:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16525157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeleblaircassiedanser/pseuds/adeleblaircassiedanser
Summary: Hmm ok but where's my fic where A*ston scares easily and he decides to marathon The H*unting of H*ll H*use while he's on IR and Fr*ddie has to come hold his hand? -@fiddleyoumust





	time we can borrow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fiddleyoumust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiddleyoumust/gifts).



> So this little story started with a tweet from @fiddleyoumust and was passed around as a ficlet on Halloween. I'm excited to have actually added enough that it's worth posting as a whole story. Certain interviews which came out after I started writing this necessitate me clarifying that Auston specifically is watching The Haunting of Hill House, something far too scary by far by his standards, so he has an excuse to invite Freddie over. Thanks to Molly for workshopping with me and reading this over a couple times. Story title from the song "Heavenly Day", which is from the Hill House soundtrack. Strongly recommend the show if you have Netflix and DO like being scared.

When Auston had texted saying he needed Freddie to come over because the Netflix show he was watching was ‘freaking him out’, Freddie hadn’t put a lot of stock in it. Auston yells and jumps feet into the air at the slightest provocation, so probably whatever it was he was watching would be pretty tame. Freddie doesn’t really like horror movies, but he does like Auston, his teammate who’s having a pretty colossally shitty week. What’s the harm, he figures. Go keep him company for a couple hours. 

Auston reassures him that there’s not a lot of gore or anything in the show, and restarts the first episode from the beginning so Freddie can catch up. The premise, a bunch of adorable little kids living in a haunted house, waiting for bad shit to happen to them, is not something Freddie would ever choose to subject himself to, but there are only a couple of jump scares in the first episode. Freddie’s there to pat Auston’s shoulder (the good one, that is) when he flinches or recoils, and they both get caught up in the storyline and the characters. The show is well made. 

As the fifth episode draws to a close and the little loading countdown for number six pops up, Auston yawns and turns to look at Freddie. 

“I can’t do another one,” he says. “I’m too tired.” 

“Okay,” Freddie says, and gets up to clear the mess off the coffee table from where they’d paused a couple hours ago to order Skip The Dishes. When he’s done he sits back down instead of going to get his coat and leave, like a reasonable person. 

The thing is- no one’s been like, stabbed to death or had their skull crushed or their guts fly everywhere. Somehow, though, the slow creep of the show, the emotional tone of it, it’s gotten to Freddie. He feels deeply unsettled. He doesn’t want to walk out and find his car on the dark street and drive back to his dark, empty apartment and sleep alone. He doesn’t have a dead wife or sister who’s going to suddenly materialize in the night or anything, obviously. It’s a totally irrational feeling. Regardless, he sits back down next to Auston, who looks over at him a little curiously. 

“Thanks for coming over,” he says. 

“No problem,” Freddie says. “I told you to let me know if you needed anything, so.”

“Yeah, but I know you meant like, _legit_ need, not just like… Netflix,” Auston says, and sort of trails off. It’s always intense, looking right into his eyes. There’s something about them. Right now Freddie gets the feeling that maybe Auston’s searching for something, looking at Freddie’s face with a strange amount of scrutiny. “Did you like the show, at least?” he says after that long pause. 

Freddie’s grateful for the question, because he’d been sure it was his turn to speak and yet hadn’t been able to summon up anything appropriate to say. “Uh, yeah,” he says. “It’s good. I mean, but sad.”

“Super sad,” Auston says. “I wasn’t expecting it to be like that. But it’s pretty fucking scary too. At least, I was freaking out at certain points. You seemed fine.” 

“It’s a little scary,” Freddie admits, and then continues reluctantly: “Anyway, I should get going. It’s pretty late, so.”

“It is really late,” Auston says, kind of biting his lip before he stands up and starts walking across the room, away from Freddie. “You can crash, if you want? I mean, there’s not currently a mattress in the guest room and I think you’re too tall for this couch but. My bed’s a California King, if- not to be totally weird. Just if you wanted. I don’t snore or anything.”

“I should-” Freddie starts.

“No, totally,” Auston says hurriedly. “Obviously. Sorry I said anything, you should totally go if you want. I’ll be fine.”

“If you want me to stay, I’ll stay,” Freddie says. “If you’re scared or something and you don’t want to sleep alone.” 

“Yeah, well,” Auston says, “just because we’re not all stone cold and untouchable like you.”

Freddie smiles. “Do you have anything I can sleep in?” 

He hadn’t meant it as a particularly high-stakes question; Auston’s pretty close to him in size, so it stands to reason he’d have something more comfortable than Freddie’s jeans to lend him. 

“I haven’t really… done laundry?” Auston says, grimacing a little. He looks in the drawer and digs out some plaid pajama pants that look okay until Freddie actually pulls them on and they’re several inches too short and incredibly tight in the waistband. Auston giggles. 

“How old are these,” Freddie says, unable to stop himself from laughing along. “No fucking way they fit your massive ass either.”

“I don’t know,” Auston says. “Switzerland? Maybe older. Listen, fuck you. Sleep in your boxers, I’ll turn the heat up.” 

-

Freddie wakes up once and checks his phone. It's 4:45 AM. It's not quite light outside yet, but he could definitely find his car and get home for another couple hours of sleep before practice. He takes a breath and looks over at Auston, who's sleeping on his good side and, despite his promises earlier, snoring a little. Freddie sets the alarm on his phone and lays back down. 

-

The alarm goes off but it takes Freddie a minute to work up the energy to open his eyes. When he does Auston's looking right at him, closer than he had been last Freddie checked. 

“You stayed,” he says. “I thought you might-”

“Yeah,” Freddie says. “I almost left, but. It's okay, right?”

“Yeah for sure,” Auston says, like he's huffing out a breath. 

“I have, uh,” Freddie says, feeling even more awkward all of a sudden. “I have practice?” 

“Yeah, I know,” Auston says, in a voice like _I'm still on the team, dumbass._ “There's breakfast stuff in the kitchen if you want?” 

“Cool,” Freddie says, and doesn't move. Suddenly he's reminded of the staring contest they'd done for that stupid video, a million years ago, only this time he's the one struggling to keep it together. His cheeks are stupidly warm. _Nothing's happening_ , he reminds himself. _Calm down._

“I keep trying to figure out the right way to- say this, I guess. Or do this,” Auston says. “But, like. Fuck that?”

“What,” Freddie starts to ask, not following, but his sentence is muffled by the press of Auston's lips against his. It only lasts a second or two. They're really soft, like maybe Auston put chapstick on while Freddie was sleeping or something. 

“You can't hit me, I'm injured,” Auston whispers against Freddie's mouth, pulling back, and he's doing kind of a silly little voice as if to indicate that it's a joke, but Freddie knows him. He knows how he holds himself, how his face looks when he's nervous. 

Freddie grasps for the right thing to say. “I'm glad,” is what comes out. “Not that you're hurt. I mean, that you- I wish you hadn't done it before practice, though. I have to leave in a minute.”

“You could come back after,” Auston says, looking brave and hopeful and incredible. “We can have sex.”

Freddie cracks a smile. “Okay. Maybe.”

“Fuck you, why are you laughing?”

“You just… you have no game. We'll work on it.” Freddie stands up, finally, and finds his jeans where he had slung them over the back of a chair. 

“Thanks for staying,” Auston says. 

“See you later,” Freddie says, dropping a kiss on Auston's forehead before ducking out of the room. 

**Author's Note:**

> Auston almost certainly sends at least a shirtless selfie if not an actual nude snap to Freddie at practice, even though they just saw each other. When Freddie questions this he's just like "Wanted to make sure you came back."   
> Thanks so much for reading and obviously kudos and feedback are very welcome!   
> I can be reached on tumblr @adeleblaircassiedanser and if you message me on there I'll give you my semi fandom twitter haha


End file.
